Parents and their kids watched on in shock as an ice cream man hurled abuse at a rival during a charity event.

Video footage, filmed by a parent at the event, shows the man furiously pointing his finger and rattling off expletives.

It took place as fundraisers hosted a charity abseiling event to raise money for a number of causes, including the Spider -Ede appeal which is raising money for brave Edie Molyneux, who has a deadly brain tumour.

In the clip, the man can be seen shouting at a rival trader until he is red in the face as he appears to take exception to him being on his turf.

He shouts: “You pulling up thinking you can come on my site for nothing when I pay thousands, THOUSANDS of pounds.”

The man can be seen shouting at a rival trader until he is red in the face as he appears to take exception to him being on his turf (Image: Liverpool Post & Echo)

When the subject of the abuse explains why he is on the site, the man simply shouts back: “I don’t give a s**t. You’ve got two seconds to move.”

At one point during the video a woman, clearly distressed, can be heard shouting “you’re upsetting my children”.

It is understood that the man in the clip usually works from where the charity event was being held, however the ice cream seller who was trading on the day had been requested by charity organisers to help out.

An eyewitness, who did not wish to be named, said the altercation left several children at the scene upset - and that parents were ‘worried for their children.’

They told the Liverpool ECHO: “There’s no need for anyone to behave like that in public, or anywhere else really. He really did go mad.

“You pulling up thinking you can come on my site for nothing when I pay thousands, THOUSANDS of pounds," he shouted (Image: Liverpool Post & Echo)

“There was a lot of kids about and I didn’t want my children to see that. The man in the ice cream van looked quite shocked but people told him not to leave.

“It’s a shame when it’s a charity event and it gets marred by something like that. You don’t expect a grown man to behave like that.”

One witness, who was taking photographs from the top of the lighthouse, said they could “hear the shouting from all the way up there”.

The event was raising money for several different charities, including an appeal to pay for treatment for Wirral’s Edie Molyneux, who has a rare type of brain tumour known as DIPG.

A spokesperson for the Spider-Ede appeal said: “We absolutely deplore what went on at an event that our appeal attended today.

“People who had spent months attracting sponsors and preparing for the event were subject to what can only be described as ‘turf war’ over ice cream sales.

He wags his finger at the 'rival' trader as bystanders watch on in shock (Image: Liverpool Post & Echo)

“The abuse that an ice cream salesman received from an unknown third party has been described by those attending the charity event as ‘sickening’.

“Even after repeated requests from the spectators to moderate language, the tirade continued.

“It’s hard to imagine that at an event organised to help local people raise funds for community charities, others would be more concerned with loss of profit.

“The Spider-Ede Appeal is grateful for the organisers of the event for allowing our fundraisers to challenge themselves and raise money for Edie.”